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- Over 16 million South Koreans now trade virtual assets, surpassing stock investors.
- The market grew steadily, with major spikes after the US presidential election.
- Upbit remains the largest exchange, but Bithumb showed the fastest growth.
South Korea’s cryptocurrency market has reached a historic milestone. As of February 2025, the number of registered users on local exchanges stood at 16.29 million. This figure surpasses the 14.1 million stock investors in the country. Crypto adoption continues to rise, showing no signs of slowing down.
The investor base of cryptos has grown steadily over the past year. South Korea had 13.65 million virtual asset users in early 2024. The figure passed 14 million by March. Each month since then, thousands of new investors have entered the market.
A major turning point was achieved in November 2024 after the U.S. presidential election. More than 500,000 new users joined during that month alone. The market has not looked back since, with hundreds of thousands of new investors joining each month.
By the beginning of 2025, crypto adoption had gained even more speed. The 16.29 million investors translate to about 32% of the country’s total population of 51.68 million. If the trend continues, South Korea could have 20 million crypto investors soon.
Upbit Dominates, But Bithumb Grows Fastest
Among the big five virtual asset exchanges, Upbit is still the leader. It had 9.82 million users as of February, and the number must have surpassed 10 million in March. Coinone is second with 3.2 million users, and Bithumb has 2.36 million. Korbit and GOPAX have 770,000 and 150,000 users, respectively.
Bithumb also saw the fastest growth over the past year. Its user base increased by 77.4%, rising from 1.33 million to 2.36 million. This rate of growth outpaced its competitors. GOPAX grew by 52.4%, Korbit by 10.9%, Upbit by 14.2%, and Coinone by 8.6%.
Bithumb’s recent surge is a result of aggressive marketing. The exchange ran a zero-fee trading promotion in October and November 2024. It also strengthened banking services by linking deposit and withdrawal accounts with KB Kookmin Bank. With these, it was able to attract a wave of new investors.
The Shift from Stocks to Crypto
While crypto investment is booming, conventional stock investing has slowed down. Stock investors numbered 14.1 million at the end of 2024. This was a slight increase from 14.03 million last year but far below crypto’s steep climb. The number of stock investors has fluctuated in recent years. There were 14.24 million shareholders at the end of 2022. The market has failed to record high growth ever since.
Market experts think that there is immense potential in the crypto market. Some state that investor growth may slow down. Others comment that compared to the saturated stock market, crypto still has room to expand. If the trend continues, virtual assets could become the investment of choice for the majority of South Koreans.
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